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iPhone 5 Review Roundup: The Verdict’s Unanimous

The iPhone 5 reviews we’ve been seeing are most likely the most positive ones we’ve ever seen for any gadget to date. So it looks like Apple may have done it again and no kinks have been found on the iPhone 5, so far. Here are some of the iPhone 5 reviews from around the web and the praises it’s receiving.

iPhone 5 review: all positive so far

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler says: The iPhone 5 shines in just about every conceivable way… I really do believe this is the best iPhone upgrade that Apple has done yet.

CNET’s Scott Stein said the iPhone 5 is the: iPhone we’ve always wanted… It’s absolutely the best iPhone to date, and it easily secures its place in the top tier of the smartphone universe.

Why’s it so great?

Apple has added LTE and TC’s Siegler says: “the iPhone 5 is now fast as hell.” All Things D’s Walt Mossberg reckons the iPhone 5’s connection speed is ten times as fast as last year’s iPhone 4S.

The New York Times’ David Pogue said: The camera is among the best ever put into a phone.

People may have thought that photos of the iPhone 5 seemed boring and not much of a progression, but those who have had their hands on it think it’s amazing.

Pogue wrote: The new phone, in all black or white, is beautiful. Especially the black one, whose gleaming, black-on-black, glass-and-aluminum body carries the design cues of a Stealth bomber.

CNET’s Stein said: “You’re going to be shocked at how light this phone is.” Almost every reviewer here says it’s so light that you can barely feel it in your pocket. It might be light, but it doesn’t feel cheap like a lot of Android phones.

A common complain about the iPhone has been that it’s great at everything – except for phone calls. The iPhone 5 has put paid to this. After using a Verizon iPhone 5, Mossberg said: voice calls I made on the iPhone 5 were clear, better than in the past. I had no dropped calls.

There have been few complaints, and the ones we have heard seem to be reaching a bit. Pogue is piqued about the new charging cord, but while it’ll be a pain to replace, it doesn’t really have any bearing on the quality of the iPhone 5.

Mossberg isn’t bowled over by Apple Maps, though. This isn’t because they’re wrong, though: They tend to default to a more zoomed-in view than Google’s, making them look emptier until you zoom out.

The fact that Apple doesn’t have transit maps is a pain, but the company says it’ll sort this out with third-party applications.

The iPhone 5 bigger screen hasn’t created too many ripples, with neither good nor bad comments.

These reviews make it hard not to get excited about the iPhone 5, and it seems like Apple has pulled a big rabbit out of its hat this time. Siegler reckons it’s “the smartphone almost perfected.”